THE MILITARY PAGEANT AND THE CLERGY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18922, 10 February 1927, Page 11

THE MILITARY PAGEANT AND THE CLERGY.

TO THE FPITOR OF THt TBESS. Sir. — It almost makes one despair of fvrr understanding llio attitude of those who profc.-s M follow tho Prince of IV.-ico w|i..|, r, M ... vails tlint the Rev V. IJoticiunit w;i.> unable to get ;i .'<:'■ oihW to h\f motion, '-That the church doploies 1111 hie- glorification of militarism in tli.' lonliHiiniiig military pageant as c-initr;:t-y to the spirit of the. League of Nations, of whii-ti New /.ealanil is a member. ' Surely one other amongst those of tho clergy gathered together at this meeting ot the Christchuich Piet>bytory might have had courage enough to seeond >ei h a motion. Still, when one KMiKinlxis what the reverend clergy in all eountries, Allied and German alike, were wont to tell their nocks in 1!M 1-I.>H>l7, one ean bay they are at least being consistent in not helping to prevent a recurrence of that horror, which. I»y their preaching, they sought to during those years. some day perhaps real spiritual leaders will enter the church and leach thai militarism, and all the beastlinc--. it stands for, must he done away with. 'Humanity will then have an opportunity of learning what the Christian .Master meant when He tought men "to love one another.'' Tho Church will stand for something much liner than mere pulpit oratory, and the nllrustic teachings of .Testis may again become the keynote of our rhnrrh services. To-day it would seem Unit the old Mosaic Law "an eye for nn eye and a tooth for a tooth" is what our spiritual teachers would have us subscribe to.—Youns, etc., H.T.W.